2 Down, 1 To Go
Posted on July 14, 2007 - Filed Under American Politics |
W’s attempt to dismantle the ‘Axis of Evil’ continues apace, with North Korea seemingly having shut down its Yongbyon nuclear facility in the lat few hours. However, it doesn’t look all this good work is impressing the American people judging by the latest Gallup poll results, which saw his approval rating dip to 29%.
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10 Responses to “2 Down, 1 To Go”
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I reckon I’d have a higher approval rating then that and i’d probably nuke the bastards.
Well, you know what I think about this…
What do you think about this, Liam? Is it that the world would be better off if North Korea and Iran were allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, even though the leaders of both countries are unhinged, unpredictable and unfriendly to liberal democracies?
I think that bargaining a country that suffers widespread blackouts to shut down their nuclear power stations in exchange for 1,000,000 imperial tons of heavy fuel oil is a step in the wrong direction, for North Korea, the environment, and the global attitude towards nuclear power.
Nuclear power is not the issue here. If Kim Jong-Il could be trusted not to make nuclear weapons then nobody would object to him having nuclear power station. However, since this is not the case, shutting down his reactors is one of the few ways of ensuring, or at least making it less likely, that he will acquire nuclear weapons.
What strategic plans do you think Kim has holed up in his mind for after he would acquire nuclear weapons. Simply, why do you think he wants them? I’m interested to know.
What about having a plant just outisde north korea and pump them in power that way.
Like how we do with iceland. Except when they misbehave hold them over a barrell and cut out the power. How long you reckon the Kimster could last without his automatic head waxer?
Kim Jong-Il wants his bombs to bring some relevance to North Korea, a country himself and his father before him have rode to ruin as the South has prospered under benign American oversight. North Korea, despite its population of over 20 million people, carries no political weight in South-East Asia, save from its ability to stoke fears in its neighbours about its nuclear capabilities. As a megalomaniacal dictator, it is likely that his nation’s meagre political power is a source of frustration to him. (I know that’s a little overly-psychological a diagnosis).
Of course, it’s very likely that he wants them also to stave a possible preemptive attack led by the US. Given America’s behaviour vis-a-vis Iraq, such a motive is perhaps rational, if he believes that he can make a weapon deliverable to the US before the US manages to disentangle itself from Iraq.
Aside from a few quibbles over choice of language, yeah, I’d say that’s exactly it.
What’s the problem exactly?
“if he believes that he can make a weapon deliverable to the US before the US manages to disentangle itself from Iraq.”
uh…whut?
“Deliverable” as in it be fired from somewhere and reach the US mainland.
The problem is that Kim Jong-Il is an unhinged tyrant who could not be trusted to keep the peace in South-East if he were sitting on a nuclear arsenal. He’d be holding South Korea and Japan over the barrel of a gun, probably leading to both nations seeking nukes of their own, and nuclear proliferation is generally seen as a bad thing.